New Life
by estrellaSMC
Summary: AU: Adrian and Trudy have a baby, and Trudy says something while in labor that reveals a certain secret.


Adrian Monk paced back and forth in the waiting room of the birthing center. He had already straightened everything in the room as much as possible. He would pace across ten of the floor tiles, turn 180 degrees exactly, and then pace back across the same ten tiles.

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Trudy had woken him up at 3:00 that morning, telling him she was in labor. "Are you sure you're not having Braxton Hicks contractions again?" he'd asked her. She'd been having fake contractions a lot over the past few days and he wanted to be sure this wasn't a false alarm.

"Adrian, I know the difference between Braxton Hicks and real labor," Trudy had answered him. He saw her belly give a sudden jerk and she gasped and closed her eyes. She opened them again in a moment and continued, "This is the real thing. We really are going to have this baby today."

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He remembered finding out that they were going to have a baby. Trudy had shared her suspicions that she was pregnant with Adrian one evening. She told him she planned to take a pregnancy test in the morning. Neither Adrian nor Trudy slept too well that night. Both were too excited and nervous about what the morning could bring.

Finally, the next morning came. Trudy got out of bed and went into the bathroom to take the test. Adrian tried to stay in bed, but he couldn't. He got out of bed and paced while he waited. Finally...

"Darling?"

Adrian turned to see Trudy standing in the bathroom doorway and holding the white pregnancy test stick in her hand. He walked over to her and she held it out to him with a smile.

"I'm pregnant."

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He remembered when he first felt the baby kick. He had felt it kick nine times. "Could you kick once more to make it even?" he'd asked the baby. Seemingly to oblige him, the baby had kicked again. "Thank you." They had laughed so hard and so long about that. Even now, the memory brought a smile to his face.

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He remembered finding out that the baby was going to be a girl and the many nights they spent talking about names. They finally decided on Alicia Trudie Monk. It had been Adrian's idea to have their daughter have her mother's first name as her middle name. It had also been his idea to spell it with an ie instead of a y so that there would be an even number of letters in their daughter's name.

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"Mr. Monk?"

8...9...10. He turned around to face the midwife that had come into the room.

She smiled at him. "Congratulations, Mr. Monk," she said. "Your wife has just given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl."

"Can I see her?" Adrian asked.

"Of course," the midwife replied. "Follow me."

Adrian followed the nurse down the hall and to Trudy's room. She was sitting propped up in bed, a tiny bundle wrapped in a pink blanket in her arms. She looked exhausted but thrilled. He tiptoed over to the side of Trudy's bed.

"Silly," Trudy said with a smile. "Come over here."

Adrian gazed down at their sleeping daughter. "Hello Alicia," he whispered, gently stroking his daughter's blond curls. "Your mommy and I have waited a long time to meet you." Alicia's eyes blinked open. Adrian stared at his daughter and then turned to Trudy. "She has my eyes!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, she does," Trudy replied.

"She's got your beautiful face, too," Adrian said. He leaned over and kissed Trudy right in the middle of her forehead. Then he dug in his pocket and produced a small box. "This is for you," he said. He opened it and held it out to her, "to celebrate the birth of our daughter." Inside was a beautiful silver heart shaped pendant on a silver chain.

"It's beautiful," Trudy whispered. She looked from the necklace to her husband. "Would you put it on me?" she asked.

Adrian removed the pendant from the box, undid the clasp on the chain, and then fastened it around her neck, careful not to snag any of her hair in the process. His hand drifted down towards Alicia and then he placed one finger against his daughter's palm and he smiled as her tiny hand closed around it as if she would never let go. He tried to pull away but her grip was too strong. "Help!" he begged Trudy.

She chuckled and gently loosened Alicia's hold on his finger. Then she yawned. "Excuse me," she said.

"It's okay," Adrian said. "I'm not surprised you're tired. We were up hours before we normally get up."

"And having a baby isn't exactly easy," Trudy said, nodding.

"I know," Adrian replied. He took a deep breath. "I hope you're still not upset with me that I decided not to be in the room when you were giving birth to Alicia. I know you wanted me here. I just...the more I learned about birth, the more I realized I wouldn't be able to stand it. Seeing you in pain...I just..."

"It's okay, Adrian," Trudy said. "I realized that before Alicia was born. I'm not upset." Adrian yawned. Trudy scooted over and patted the bed. "Come on," she said. "We could both use a rest." Adrian climbed into bed with Trudy. They put baby Alicia between them and soon the three of them were asleep.

* * *

><p>Later on, Adrian woke up feeling an odd weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled. Somehow Alicia had been moved so she was lying on her stomach on top of him. Just at that moment, Alicia yawned and opened her eyes, staring down at him.<p>

"Hi baby," Adrian whispered, stroking her soft cheek. He looked over to find Trudy still sound asleep. "Come on, Alicia," he said, picking her up in his arms. "Let's leave Mommy to her nap and go tell everyone about you." With that he eased himself out of bed, picked up a sling baby carrier, put it on, settled Alicia in it, and tiptoed out of the room. He found a phone and called Ambrose.

The phone rang four times and then Ambrose answered. "Hello?"

"Hello Uncle Ambrose," Adrian said, smiling.

There was a pause on the other end, and then, "Did you just call me _Uncle_ Ambrose?"

"Yes," Adrian said. "Alicia was born about a half an hour ago."

"Congratulations," Ambrose said. "How are they doing?"

"They're both doing fine. Trudy's asleep." Adrian told him, "I have Alicia here with me so she wouldn't wake Trudy up if she happens to cry. Listen, I have other calls to make, but I wanted you to be the first one to know."

"I hope the three of you will stop by the house sometime soon," Ambrose said. "I can't wait to meet my new niece."

"We certainly will," Adrian promised. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye Adrian," Ambrose said.

Adrian then called Trudy's parents and Leland Stottelmeyer after them, who promised to share the news with the rest of the department. In fact, he was so excited about being a new father that he called everyone he and Trudy knew and told them all.

When he finally ran out of people to call, he went back to Trudy's room. She was awake and turned to look at him. "I wondered where you two got to," she said.

"I went to call everyone and tell them about Alicia," Adrian said, walking over to Trudy's bedside. "Everyone was so excited."

Trudy held out her arms. "Can I have her now?" she asked.

"Sure," Adrian said. He handed Alicia over to Trudy. "I see we're going to have some problems. It seems that neither one of us can get enough of holding her."

Trudy chuckled. "True," she said. She smiled at him. "You're off to a great start as a daddy," she said.

"So are you," Adrian said. He hesitated and then added, "As a mommy, I mean."

"I know what you meant," Trudy said.

"Can we have a boy next?" Adrian asked.

"We can try," Trudy answered.

"What did you mean this morning?" Adrian asked. "When you said you knew what real labor felt like? How could you know that, unless..."

Trudy took a deep breath and let it out. "This wasn't my first time giving birth," she said softly.

"When?" Adrian asked. "What happened?"

"It was before we met," Trudy said. She looked down at Alicia, who was sleeping peacefully in her arms. "I was in a relationship with my law professor and I became pregnant." She stroked Alicia's cheek, causing her to open her eyes. "It was a girl. She only lived for nine minutes. I never held her, or even saw her. Even though she died, the midwife said I could still name her if I wanted to. I had chosen the name Molly Tess Ellison before she was born, so that was the name I told the midwife." She stopped and reached up to wipe the tears that had filled her eyes as she recounted the story.

"Oh, Trudy," Adrian whispered. He hugged her. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

><p>A few days later, Adrian pushed Trudy in a wheelchair out to their car. As they were passing through the hospital lobby, a husband and wife with a little girl came in. The man's left arm hung limply at his side and his wife was by his side. Their little girl ran up to Trudy. "Oh..." she gasped when she saw Alicia. "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked.<p>

"It's a girl," Trudy answered with a smile.

"What's her name?" the little girl asked.

"Alicia," Trudy answered.

Adrian finished with the paperwork and turned around. He looked at the little girl. Strange...she looked like a younger version of Trudy...same blond hair, same blue eyes, same oval face...

The girl's parents had walked past. "Molly," the mother called, "Come along, dear."

"Coming, Mommy," the girl ran up to her mother.

"Molly?" Trudy and Adrian exclaimed together. Here was a girl that looked like Trudy that had the same name as Trudy's daughter that died. This was just too much of a coincidence!

"But...how..." Trudy faltered. "She _died_, Adrian."

"I don't know," Adrian said, "But I'm going to find out. I promise."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm not sure first if I should continue this or not, and second, where I want it to go from here. What do you think?**


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